


A Wilted Journey: Eden's Hope

by sakuurrayunkine



Category: ATEEZ (Band)
Genre: Alternative Universe - Pirates, Arguing, But not really Pirates, Captain!Hongjoong, Chaos, Chef!Seonghwa, Dark Magic, Denial of Feelings, Doctor!Yunho - Freeform, Fantasy, Fluff and Angst, Heavy Angst, Journey, M/M, Magic, Magic Ships, Mean San, Rescued!Wooyoung - Freeform, Search for Eden's Hope, Slave!Wooyoung - Freeform, Slow Burn, Soft Wooyoung, Tags don't really determine this story, There are no actual Roles, This will be explained, this is all made up
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-04
Updated: 2021-02-08
Packaged: 2021-03-15 01:00:42
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 7
Words: 13,214
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28555035
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sakuurrayunkine/pseuds/sakuurrayunkine
Summary: Eden's Hope, the reasoning that fuels most dreams of those who believe they can find it, but nobody dares to follow through. From what was seen as a hopeless goal to the entirety of society to a curse that haunts only those who are only recognized by their sheer stupidity, it isn't common for people take the journey ahead of them all the way to the end.Countless of decades have passed since event the name itself has been said allowed, allowing for a majority of the world to forget all about how the past used to be, enriched with magic.As the future seemed to progress, there were very little people who knew about the Eden's Hope, with even less people aware of magic itself.Starting from the story of a young boy, abandoned by his own family to be used for money, to a well known pirate crew who nobody dares speak the name of, how will their stories align with each other?Follow Jung Wooyoung through his own journey sparked by a lost hope within himself as there is no telling what the future holds for him.
Relationships: Choi Jongho/Kang Yeosang, Choi San/Jung Wooyoung, Jeong Yunho/Song Mingi, Kim Hongjoong/Park Seonghwa
Comments: 2
Kudos: 27





	1. Chapter 1

“You must find the Eden’s Hope, it is the only way to make things right.” 

A voice called out in the darkness of the room, jolting Wooyoung awake. Clutching his chest, Wooyoung stared up and out of the singular window in the room.

Drawing his attention to the darkness, Wooyoung was able to see small creatures in the night, floating above him. This was not an uncommon occurrence as Wooyoung was always able to see these creatures, but it was not common either. Nobody else seemed to see them, nor did they know what they were, but they were able to provide a comfort in his room as nothing else seemed to do so for him. 

“Do you know who that was?” Wooyoung carefully asked to one of the creatures.

Simply staring back at him, they had lit up a small path outside, one of which Wooyoung was familiar with through the peek of his window. The same answer as always, Wooyoung seemed satisfied and slowly curled up once again, trying to shuffle the chains around his neck and wrists to a much more comfortable position.

"I wonder what could be out there…" Trailing off, he had fell asleep unknowing of what that path would lead him towards, never once attempting to leave.


	2. Chapter 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “It seems we must set a course for Aurora.”

Unknowing of what the world was truly like, Jung Wooyoung had always grown up with the same exact question,  _ “Where does that path lead me?” _

Looking outside of the small window of the room, he was always entranced by this singular path that seemed to provide more questions than answers. 

Wooyoung had always been an innocent child, following whatever someone told him to do simply because he didn’t know better, or in other words, he was never  _ allowed _ to know better.

For as long as he could remember, the man who always came back to feed him scraps with a measly glass of water had always told him, “You were never wanted.”

“You were simply a means for gaining money”

“What a miserable life you must have, too bad you’re too  _ stupid _ to understand.”

“A pity you will never understand how to live on your own, how  _ pathetic _ .”

Not truly understanding the meaning of the words themselves and the weight it had held, Wooyoung would always stare back, wondering when the man himself would leave. Never learning his name, Wooyoung only had himself to confide in, knowing that any signs of weakness would always result in punishment.

Even though he was grown up sheltered in an extremely poor lifestyle, the only way he knew how to act was to simply “ _ Listen. _ ”

Understanding from his own past mistakes, he had always listened since he was a young child as it had made everything better.

\---

“Get up, we have matters to attend to.” 

Wooyoung was jolted awake as someone had come into his room, dragging him off of his makeshift bed of old clothing, not even once bothering him to fully grasp the situation at hand.

Staring up at the company in the room, he nodded wordlessly towards a familiar person who was currently attempting to drag him to his feet and out of the cell room. Knowing that this was the same person who seemed to always make him listen to whatever he wanted, Wooyoung quickly collected himself and stood up immediately, following without any questions asked.

Asking was never an option, there was only the same command,  _ listen _ .

Being dragged out of his cell when it was still light out was a rare sight for Wooyoung, mostly due to the fact that he almost never is allowed outside. Whenever he was allowed outside, there was a blindfold involved a majority of the time, only giving some freedom when it happened to be daytime.

Slowly being dragged by the chains around his neck, Wooyoung had no choice but to look forward in fear of disobedience towards the person in front of him.

As the walk seemed to last forever, he had tried to enjoy as much of the scenery as possible, knowing that every day he continues to live, there may be a time where he would never be able to see it again.

“ _ Follow us... we will be able to give you hope… there’s not much time… _ ” A voice trailed out of nowhere, snapping Wooyoung from his daze.

Staring directly in front of him, it seems as if the person did not hear what he clearly just did, seeing as green wisps of light seemed to flow into his line of sight. Trying not to strain his neck as much, Wooyoung was able to see that not only did the light seem to show him a path once again, but there was a very faint trail that seemed to lead all the way out to the ocean.

Nearly tripping over his own feet in the process, Wooyoung caught himself before he had fallen as suddenly they seemed to have arrived at their destination. Staring right back at him was a very old wooden house that could have been the same size of the cell he had resided in. Looking beaten down, the door had creaked open as another person had greeted the other in front of Wooyoung.

“Will 10 pieces of gold suffice? Or will you need more, there is a chance that I might need him for some  _ overnight experiments,  _ if you are okay with that.” The man had said, out of Wooyoung’s view, but with enough excitement to the point that he could hear the smirk on his face.

“Why of course, 10 pieces of gold would be amazing! If anything you should just take him for the next couple of days, oh the things I could do with that amount of money. Though I should warn you, if you do not bring him back within the week, I can assure you that money will be the least of your problems.” The man in front of Wooyoung had said, clearly threatening the other man before him.

“I promise.”

\---

“Prepare for docking, we need to get everything on this ship before sundown, any later and I will not hesitate to keep you from eating!”

“That’s not fair! How dare you, what if I suddenly die overnight because I was so hungry?!”

“Yeah, like that would kill you. If anything would kill you it would be because you eat too much.”

“Now’s not the time for your smart comments, my food is at stake!”

The arguing continued with no clear end in sight as a ship started to approach the harbor, preparing to dock. As the ship was filled with childish bickering, everyone who happened to be at the harbor had simply ignored the ship, never once attempting to interact with the crew understanding that nothing good would come out of it.

A stern voice had called out to the bickering crew members, quickly shutting them all up as they all seemed to stare intensely at the current person who had caught their attention.

“If you cannot figure this out then I will make sure none of you have food by the end of today. We have many more important matters to attend to here. The three of you will go into town today to not only restock, but you must collect the reward for the quest we had done. I will stay on this ship with everyone else figuring out our next coordinates. Move quickly!” 

Three figures on the ship had all nodded towards the stern voice and covered their faces with black masks designed with chains, appearing with almost matching black outfits and fedoras to adorn their appearance. As all three of them had descended onto the wooden part of the harbor, quickly moving towards the town. 

\---

As the three masked figures had navigated themselves throughout the town to help restock supplies, the tallest of the three carried one large back over his shoulder, full of all the necessities of a ship. Turning towards the other two next to him, he didn’t need to ask as they had already answered his question for him.

“We will need to continue down this path towards that stone tower.” The shortest of the three had said, pointing out in front of them where the stone tower had resided in.

“From there on, we will approach Lee Jeonseok to claim our rewards, but we will also need to be wary. There is no telling what he will do, knowing that man is too greedy for his own good.”

After explaining, the three of them fell into step with one another, understanding what needs to be done. The small wooden house was not too far from where they had originally been, only becoming a short couple of minutes till they had arrived at the beaten down house.

Lifting his hand up to the door, the shortest of the three knocked on the door awaiting the arrival of Lee Jeonseok.

\---

A dull knocking sound is heard from the inside of the beaten down house, drawing the attention of the two people who were currently in one of the back rooms of the house. In that room, the man in question known as Lee Jeonseok was currently hovering over an extremely tired Wooyoung who seemed to be completely drained of energy.

Cursing to himself, Jeonseok had walked past the boy and closed the door, glaring down at him as Wooyoung was only able to peek through his messy black locks, drenched and matted in sweat as all he could do was breath heavily towards him. 

As Jeonseok had gone to answer the door, vines seemed to wrap around Wooyoung’s body, not entirely covering him, but enough to be visible to anyone who had glanced at him.

“I’m coming, what do you want?” Jeonseok had asked, swinging the front door open as he was met with the appearance of three individuals all dressed up in black clothing. Staring at the dark clothed figures, sweat began to run down Yeon Seok's forehead as his once annoyed expression had slowly turned to one of fear.

“O-oh I was not aware that y-you all would be visiting me so s-soon...I guess y-you must have f-f-finished the q-quest..?” He had slowly questioned, quietly cursing himself in his own mind as he could not stop himself from stuttering along the entire sentence. 

As the three figures stared at him, the shortest one had stepped forward to engage into the conversation, while the other two could not help but stare at the man suspiciously.

“Yes, we require the payment right now. You must pay in full, or I am sure what will happen to you if you do not.” The man had stated, leaving no room for anything else as the tension in the air had grown. 

Jeonseok had nodded quickly, reaching out to his pocket to fish out about 30 pieces of gold, trying not to drop it in the process of handing them over. After handing the said pieces over, Jeonseok had taken a deep breath and started back into the eyes of the man in front of him.

“If that is all, then you should take your leave right now. I do not wish to keep you here any longer.” He said as he had reached for the door, praising himself for being able to deal with the situation, but was stopped when the tallest person had simply held his hand out, forcing the door to stay open.

The middle height of the three had finally stepped out, closing his eyes for a couple seconds before opening them once again as a bright blue light had seemed to take over the color of his eyes. Staring directly at the back of the room, wisps of green light had seemed to forcefully flow on over to him, wrapping around his arms in a manner a vine, or a rope would, dragging him towards the source.

Everything had happened too quickly for Jeonseok to understand, as the three men who had once stood in front of him had changed positions to which the taller man had pinned him to the ground as the shortest one had grabbed the bag for him. The middle man had allowed for him to be dragged over towards the back door, unsure of what there would be to await him.

As he had opened the door carefully, he was met with the pitiful sight of a young boy, only a couple years younger than him, was strapped down to a chair hooked up to a machine that seemed to be draining something from him.

  
With the now icy blue eyes, the man could clearly see that the green light was indeed not only coming from the vines wrapped around the boy, but through the multiple tubes connected to his body as he was barely able to look up from his position. Looking up from the position, the vines had immediately disappeared, showing the multiple chains covering the boy himself.

Moving quietly, the masked man had immediately removed his hat and mask, revealing his dark grey hair as he had approached the young boy cautiously, attempting to show no signs of harm. When the boy in front of him had done nothing, only stared ahead, the man in the dark clothing quickly worked to free him from the chair and tubes.

\---

  
Being trapped in the room for so long, Wooyoung was curious as to why there was currently somebody getting him out of the chair, one of which he had never seen before. Unsure of what to do, Wooyoung had stared at the man in question as he was finally free from all of the tubes as he had reached out to grab the chains around his neck.

As soon as he had touched the chains around his neck, Wooyoung’s mind had screamed back at him only one thing.

_ Listen. _

Slumping from his position, Wooyoung had prepared himself to follow whatever the man in front of him had in store for him, greatly surprising the other as he had gasped out immediately.

Staring at the young boy in shock, a great sense of dread had overtaken him as the nausea had quickly set in, understanding how severe this situation was.

This young boy was a slave, one who was pulled around by the chains around his neck the entire time. But there had been one thing that intrigued the man in front of Wooyoung the most, and that was the green lights that seemed to now flow from his body. Smiling towards the young boy, the man had simply lifted him up into his arms, hugging him as carefully as he could and allowing for him to fall asleep in his arms.

Walking out of the room, he had looked over at his two companions and spoke urgently, but quietly.

“Have Lee Jeonseok dealt with for not only participating in slavery, but send him to Aurora. They should know how to deal with people who illegally tamper with magic. Find out everyone related to this person's work and have them sent as well.” Staring with a fearful expression, Jeonseok was knocked out quickly as the other two had stared at the young boy in their companion’s arms. 

  
Without asking any questions, the tallest of the three had set out to find out any suspects as the shorter one had pulled out a pendant from around his neck, clearly contacting somebody through a communication device as he had stared down at Jeonseok, explaining the situation.

Hugging the young boy closer to him, the man had said one thing before putting his hat and mask on once again.

“It seems we must set a course for Aurora.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I will try and explain everything after this chapter as this mostly is another introduction chapter, but I will try and make the chapters less dry. Can you guess who the three members are? Also I am not sure if this is a good style of writing, but I am enjoying it so let's see how it will turn out! There is also a reason as to why there is a lot of information missing currently as that will be explained mostly across the next chapter. Until then, see you next time!


	3. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Can I really get them removed?"

Stirring awake, Wooyoung had opened his eyes carefully to see what was going on around him. Looking up immediately, he noticed the person holding had put back on his mask and hat, covering his entire face. Glancing around to the side of him, Wooyoung noticed another person, slightly shorter than the one holding him, but did not recognize anything around him.

Assuming this was yet another person that he had to work for, Wooyoung didn’t do anything but stay still as he was unsure as to where his next destination would lead him.

“Are you okay?” The man had asked, surprising Wooyoung as he was zoning out once again. Nodding his head as to tell him he was okay, Wooyoung couldn’t help but notice the much more gentler tone this man had held compared to everyone else he had encountered before. Furrowing his brow, Wooyoung was unable to understand if there was a reason as to why he had seemed so nice to him. Relaxing once again in the man’s arms, he had begun to grow curious about the situation.

_ “Where are we going? What is going to happen to me?” _ Wooyoung couldn’t help but wonder as he ran through with multiple thoughts, unable to find any sort of answer. At that moment, he had also realized that the man who had kept him in his room was nowhere in sight, nor did he interact with these people at all. As he had stayed in the man's arms relaxing, he couldn’t help the sense of relief that ran through him, greatly surprising him that this situation seemed to make him feel better than he had ever before.

As they had all continued the journey to where only the two masked men seemed to know, Wooyoung had once again closed his eyes as it seemed to not bug them previously, hoping to get some rest before anything else happened.

\---

Eventually reaching the ship, the two men had quickly boarded, careful as to not wake up the sleeping boy in the taller one’s arms. Both had not spoken a word to each other the entire way back, but both of them had immediately gone towards the captain’s room. Opening the door hastily, a shorter male who was sitting at the desk was immediately shocked at the two entering his room as fast as they did.

“Hongjoong, we need to set a course for Aurora immediately. I’m afraid we do not have much time to take any breaks in between.” The taller male had said, removing his outerwear into a nearby closet. The shorter male had also begun removing his outerwear, essentially getting rid of the entire black outfit they had previously adorned on themselves.

“Hold on Seonghwa, you can’t just barge into my room like that with Yeosang and not give any sort of explanation. Especially since you guys have returned without Yunho, did something happen? Where is he?” Hongjoong had quickly spoken with increased urgency as he was unsure of how serious the situation was.

“We can explain everything as fast as we can, but first we must call everybody into here to let them all know what we seem to be dealing with. We also should tend to this young boy right here as he holds a major part in it.” Yeosang had calmly stated, pointing at the young boy in Seonghwa’s arms to show Hongjoong what they had been talking about. Finally taking notice of the other person in the room, who had still been sleeping soundly in the arms of his crewmate, more questions popped up in his head, but he had held off for when they could all converse over the matter.

\---

Calling everybody to Hongjoong’s room for a meeting, the tallest male known as Yunho had arrived once again and was waiting in the room for everyone else to show up.

“I’m sure this is very out of the blue, and I thank all of you for coming here on such short notice, but Yeosang, Yunho, and Seonghwa have something to explain to all of us. It requires us to go to Aurora, so I suggest listening carefully.” Hongjoong had quickly explained, not leaving any room for questions as everyone else seemed to tense up over the name of their next destination.

“Thank you Hongjoong. To put it as quickly as possible, when collecting the reward, we noticed something strange from the backroom of Jeonseok’s place, noticing that there was an unusual amount of magic coming from there. Knowing that Jeonseok is not permitted to use any sort of magic, we had quickly apprehended him as well as any accomplice, only to find this young boy back there.” Seonghwa had explained, motioning his head towards the boy in his arms carefully to not awake him from his slumber. Tensing at the next couple of words, unsure of the reaction from some of the crewmates, he had continued the story.

“Following the source to the backroom, I had not only found this young boy hooked up to a machine, but he had also been providing the source of magic. This is an extremely rare case as the magic was not only coming from the boy himself, but he himself seems to be able to produce vines from it. Almost like the nature type of magic, except within him rather than a magical object. He also seems to have been a slave from a very young age as he becomes completely pliant under the touch of these chains.” He had quietly stated, sadness overwhelming his emotions as he had carefully lifted some of the chains around his neck.

Gasps had broken out throughout the entire crew, most of them adorning a sad look upon most of their faces as they stared pitifully at the boy, but one reaction had stood out the most. Looking over at the person in question, Hongjoong had immediately spoken up towards him, knowing how he must feel about the situation.

“San, I know you must be feeling conflicted here, but this is no place for past memories to arise. This boy may not even understand the severity of the situation, nor does he have anything to do with you.” Hongjoong had harshly stated, glaring back at the black haired male, now known as San, as he seemed almost furious with the entire situation.

Staying silent on the matter, the crew had slowly digested the information as they had all stared at the young boy who was still sleeping.

\---

Waking up from his slumber, Wooyoung was yet again in another unfamiliar setting, except this time there seemed to be multiple people around the room staring at him. Unsure of what seemed to be happening, Wooyoung had started to curl into himself nervously as he looked up at the male holding him still. Pleased to see that the dark gray haired male had removed his hat and mask once again, he seemed to relax slightly as his attention was quickly gained from the blue haired male sitting at a desk in front of him.

“I am sure you are confused as to what is happening right now, but do not fear. We will not hurt you in any way, we only wish to help you, but first, let us introduce ourselves to clear up some confusion. My name is Kim Hongjoong, I am 23 years old and the second oldest of this entire crew. I am also known as the ‘Captain’ of this crew, but we do not care to give ourselves labels.” Hongjoong had explained slowly, smiling at Wooyoung as to give him some reassurance. Gesturing towards the tall, light brown haired male next to him, they continued down the line.

“My name is Song Mingi and I am 22 years old, the youngest of the 22 year olds. It’s nice to meet you, and I hope you don’t get too scared of us!” Mingi had lightheartedly explained, laughing a bit at the end to help bring the mood up. The next person was just as tall, if not, taller than Mingi with bright peach colored hair smiling towards him.

“I am known as Jeong Yunho and I as well am one of the 22 year olds in this crew. I tend to be the ship’s doctor as I seem to be the best at it, so if you have any injuries come to me right away!” Yunho exclaimed, pointing towards his chest with his thumb to gesture at himself so Wooyoung would remember him. The next male wasn’t as tall as the other two before him, but his scarlet red hair had definitely caught his attention.

“I am Choi Jongho, the youngest member at the age of 21 currently, and it is very nice to meet you. I hope we can provide comfort for you.” Jongho had quickly explained, bowing slightly as he stared at Wooyoung with a very fond look in his eyes. The next male on the other hand was slightly taller than Jongho with dark black hair, but on his face had adorned a glare that caused Wooyoung to flinch from. Curling into the chest of the man holding him, the other person began to speak.

“My name is Choi San, 22 years old, and currently have no interest in people like you. Stay away from me and everything will be fine.” San had stated, almost growling as he talked to him, gaining disapproving looks from everyone else in the crew, but nobody decided to stop him. Smacking San’s shoulder somewhat hard, the next man was around the same height as him and adorned long silverish blond hair that had reached his shoulders.

“My name is Kang Yeosang, I am also 22 years old. I was also the other person who had walked back with you as Seonghwa held you in his arms.” Yeosang had calmly explained, ignoring the glare that San had given him, and instead gestured towards the man who was currently holding him. Guessing his name was Seonghwa, Wooyoung had stared up towards him as he calmly looked down at him, rubbing his hand down his back as if to calm him.

“As Yeosang had said, my name is Park Seonghwa, and I was the one who had carried you the entire time. I am the oldest one in this group at 23 years, as well as holding the unofficial title of the ship’s chef. I can teach you sometime if you like.” Seonghwa had smiled at the end, radiating on pure comfort from his tone as Wooyoung had smiled in return. Looking around at everyone who had introduced themselves, Wooyoung had eventually looked back to the captain.

“My name is Jung Wooyoung...I am unsure of my age, as well as have nothing special about me…” Wooyoung trailed off, in between embarrassment and sadness as he had avoided eye contact with everyone.

“That is fine, there is no need for your age, but there is indeed something special about you Wooyoung. I’m afraid it seems to be really late today, so if you don’t mind we shall all break off for sleep soon. Can you help him with the chains Yunho? I would greatly appreciate it.” Hongjoong has said, looking at the ship’s doctor after asking the question. Giving a thumbs up in approval, Yunho had gone over to help Seonghwa stand Wooyoung up carefully. Stumbling slightly from not walking for so long, Yunho had wrapped an arm around Wooyoung’s back to keep him steady as the two of them started walking out the door. Before leaving the room, Yunho had also grabbed San’s sleeve of his shirt and dragged him along with them. San had wanted to retaliate and yell at the taller male, but held off when he saw the fierce look in his eyes.

\---

Walking into what seemed to be the room where all medical issues are treated, Yunho had led Wooyoung onto a table and sat him up, letting him get as comfortable as he could. Wooyoung watched silently as Yunho moved around, eventually grabbing a large pair of pliers as he brought San with him. As San angrily huffed, he eventually rolled his eyes and followed him over to where the both of them stood in front of Wooyoung.

“Is it okay if we remove these chains immediately? We don’t want you to feel anything close to what you previously did.” Yunho calmly explained, patiently waiting for the young boy in front of him to answer as San said nothing, but silently stared with something closer to a poker face rather than a glare. Staring back in shock, Wooyoung was at a loss for words and didn’t know how to answer the question. Letting his voice run freely, what he said had surprised everyone in the room.

“Can I really get them removed? I don’t remember ever having them off, so what would it change? It wouldn’t hurt to do so, I think it would be nice.” Wooyoung said as he looked Yunho straight into the eyes, somewhat excited to see what it was like without them.

“Of course you can, you have the freedom to do whatever now, please don’t forget that…” Yunho trailed off sadly, reaching for the chains around his wrists first as it would be easier. Gesturing San to grab them as well, San had also silently brushed his hand over what seemed to be a badge of some sort pinned onto the side of his belt. The emblem depicted on the badge seemed to be a bright orange flame engraved onto the badge, as it had slowly lit up as he touched it. Intrigued at the brighter light coming from the badge, Wooyoung had seen bright orange and red wisps of light surrounding San’s hand as he carefully brought it up to the chains, seemingly heating them up from this newfound mystery that Wooyoung couldn’t understand. 

  
Flinching slightly from the intense heat that seemed to be radiating from San’s hand, Wooyoung stayed still as he closed his eyes, allowing for the two to remove the chains. Letting go of the chains, San had let Yunho cut it off with the pliers in his hand as they quickly went to repeat the process on the other chains on Wooyoung. Eventually reaching the chains around his neck, as soon as San had grabbed it, Wooyoung completely tensed up as a natural reaction and a dull, emotionless look covered his face. Gasping in seeing what was in front of him, San quickly heated up the chains so he wouldn’t have to see any more as he held a look of partial disgust, but also a hint of fear in his eyes as he looked away. Yunho quickly made work of those chains as well and discarded all of them as soon as possible, staring at Wooyoung to gauge his reaction.

After a few minutes passed of nothing happening, Wooyoung visibly relaxed as tears started to gather at the corner of his eyes, smiling with a new emotion he had never experienced before.

“Thank you so much…” Wooyoung trailed, voice thick with emotion as he was, for once, happy with what somebody had done for him. Nobody had ever done anything for him so he was always used to being used for everybody else's leisure. 

\---

Deciding it was finally time to go to sleep for the night as the day had been pretty long, Yunho had forced San to share his bed with Wooyoung as the two of them argued on the way over to his room.

“Why should I have to share my bed with him?! Didn’t I say I wanted nothing to do with him?! Are you out of your mind?!” San had exclaimed, clearly angered at what Yunho had chosen to do as they eventually reached the inside of the room.

“I don’t care what you think about this entire thing, plus you heard Hongjoong earlier. What matters to me is that Wooyoung is able to get some rest, and especially since there are currently no more beds in this entire ship for him, I think it would be better to put him on the biggest one, sharing or not. Don’t you think? Plus wouldn’t it be better for him to be more comfortable with how much warmer yours will be?” Yunho calmly reasoned, not letting San say any more as he left the questions unanswered and walked away, knowing San wouldn’t be able to refuse. Stomping his foot on the ground in anger, San had grumbled curses under his breath as he had eventually turned to Wooyoung who was confusedly listening to the entire conversation. Flinching as soon as he looked at him, Wooyoung felt small under San’s gaze as he listened to what he had said.

“Listen to me, just because everybody else cares for your wellbeing on this ship, it doesn’t mean that I do. I respect their choices so I won’t argue back with him here, but as Yunho says, you can sleep on the bed. Stay on your side of the bed and nothing will happen, got it?” San had growled with full hostility as Wooyoung had meekly nodded under his gaze, clearly scared of what would happen to him if he did not listen.

Guiding him towards the bed, San had collapsed on top of it and made himself comfortable on the left side of the bed and was ready to go to sleep. After a few seconds had passed he had noticed there was no dip in the bed of Wooyoung laying down as well, so he opened his eyes once again to figure out what in the world he was doing. Wooyoung was staring at the bed, unsure of what exactly it was as he poked onto the mattress multiple times, seemingly surprised at how soft it had been.

“Are you going to lay down or what, we don’t have all night and I’d rather not stay up any longer thanks to you. Or have you never seen a bed before?” San sneered, almost immediately regretting his word choice as Wooyoung flinched harder than before. As tears welled up at the corners of his eyes, Wooyoung wordlessly laid down on the right side of the bed, curling up into himself as he listened to San. Staring in awe at the boy next to him, San was speechless at not only how Wooyoung had listened to him, but was questioning the guilt he had felt for speaking harshly at the boy. Grumbling once again to himself, San turned away and had closed his eyes, hoping to sleep off the guilt he was currently feeling and to get Wooyoung off his mind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know if there are any issues and I will try and fix them! Hope you enjoy this. Still introductions for this one, next chapter will be another informational one.


	4. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Mom...was this what it was like for you…”

Waking up first thing in the morning, or at least he assumed so, San had stirred slowly as he adjusted his eyes. Noticing a strange pressure around his waist, San had looked down only to meet his eyes with a pair of arms wrapped around him. Becoming more aware of the situation, San had only felt the pressure on his back more and more, realizing what was currently happening.

“ _ Ugh, this is so annoying… _ ” San thought to himself, slowly unwrapping the arms around him as he sat up and stared at the culprit behind him. Looking at Wooyoung’s sleeping face, seemingly content with the current warmth that had kept comfortable all night. As San continued to look at him, he took in more features that the boy seemed to adorned, especially the mole under his eye and the one on his lip. Noticing how matted the poor boy’s hair had been, San had quietly moved towards his drawers and dumped a pair of clothing onto the edge of the bed. Deciding he didn’t care enough, or at least tried to convince himself of that, San walked out of the room without waking Wooyoung up and headed towards the dining area. 

“Hey San! Where’s Wooyoung at right now? You didn’t throw him off the ship did you?” Yunho joked as he walked towards San, wrapping his arm around his shoulder as the two of them walked towards the dining area. Yunho knew better than to believe that San would actually do such a thing, so to give Wooyoung some more resting time he didn’t bother to go wake up the young boy. As the two peacefully made their way into the room where the food is usually served, Seonghwa immediately handed them their plates of food and quickly took off his apron.

Seeing as everyone was gathered and silently eating, spare for Hongjoong who had always stayed in his own room as he never stopped working, Seonghwa grabbed two plates of food with him as he hurried over to San’s room. Knowing that Wooyoung would be more comfortable with just the two of them in the room, he reassured everyone and told them he could handle it. Getting a small glare from San on his way out, Seonghwa had pointedly ignored him as he couldn’t care any less about how annoyed San may feel towards him.

Opening the door immediately as he could not knock with both hands occupied, Seonghwa had rushed to put the plates down on the nightstand near the bed as Wooyoung was still sleeping peacefully, curled up hugging one of the pillows and snuggled deeply into the blanket. 

“ _ How cute. _ ” Seonghwa thought as he smiled fondly at the sleeping figure, slowly letting himself sit down on the bed to nudge Wooyoung awake. Shaking him gently, Wooyoung stirred as he opened his eyes to see Seonghwa in front of him. Not exactly remembering what had happened last night at first, Wooyoung immediately flinched as Seonghwa retracted his hand in fear of causing any more stress to the young boy. As soon as Seonghwa wanted to comfort him, Wooyoung seemed to refocus as he sat up immediately with a smile as he looked Seonghwa in the eyes.

“Seonghwa! Good morning!” He cheerfully said, knowing that Seonghwa would never lash back at him or order him to shut up. It was a strange feeling for Wooyoung as he wasn’t sure as to why he immediately felt like he could trust Seonghwa, it was almost as if his mind screamed at him that this person was friendly. Seeming a bit puzzled at his own reaction, Wooyoung quickly looked at his hands, thinking he had acted too rashly as it was indeed a stranger in front of him. 

“It’s okay, I understand how you are feeling right now. That is a part of my magic nature to allow people to get friendly with me at first glance. Do not worry as I will not use it against you, I just want you to be comfortable.” Seonghwa softly said, moving his hand to pet Wooyoung’s messy, matted hair to a slightly neater state. Looking at him with wide eyes, Wooyoung turned his head to the side as if confused.

“Magic...nature?” He questioned, not understanding the words that had come out of Seonghwa’s mouth. Smiling softly towards him, Seonghwa shook his head and waved off the question to hand the plate of food towards Wooyoung. Grabbing the plate, Wooyoung was in awe as whatever was on the plate had not only smelled amazing, but it seemed like so much food. Giving Wooyoung a fork and spoon to use, Wooyoung clumsily held them and used them in a similar manner Seonghwa had been. Although a bit shaky on his part, eventually Wooyoung was able to feed himself and taste the food that had been prepared.

Gasping out loud with eyes wide open, Wooyoung started to eat more as tears started gathering at the corner of his eyes.

“It’s not too bad is it? I would feel terrible if I cooked something bad for our guest.” Seonghwa nervously joked to lighten the atmosphere, locking eyes with Wooyoung as he vigorously shook his head no.

“It’s amazing! I’ve never had anything like this before!” Wooyoung exclaimed, making a small mess out of his food as both didn’t seem to mind, clearly enjoying the atmosphere between the two. As they continued to eat, Seonghwa couldn’t help but notice the clothing left on the edge of the bed as San’s dresser had one of the drawers slightly open. Smiling to himself as he knew the reasoning why, Seonghwa moved his gaze towards Wooyoung once more and asked him a question.

“Would you like to take a bath, Wooyoung?”

\---

As Seonghwa was washing through Wooyoung’s hair carefully with different hair products, Wooyoung sunk in the bathtub clearly enjoying the relaxing warm water that had surrounded him. Wooyoung had originally been confused as to what a bath was, but once seeing it as a way to finally clean off all the dirt and grime covering his body as soon as he sunk into the water, he immediately let Seonghwa take care of him. Looking around the bathroom, Wooyoung couldn’t help but notice that it didn’t seem to be one of a traditional ship. Comparing the layout to his memories of seeing different pieces of paper that mapped out the entire architecture of the ship, it was almost completely different, somewhat closer to a normal house bathroom.

“Why is this room built like this? Is this a house?” Wooyoung questioned aloud for Seonghwa to hear as his curiosity only seemed to draw further questions.

“Ah I was wondering if you were going to ask about that. Well you see, our ship runs off of magic itself and was given to us from the place known as ‘Aurora.’ We can get to explaining all of that later when we have you all cleaned up, but I am curious though. Do you know where most of your knowledge seems to come from, my apologies in advance but it does not seem like someone who grew up in your conditions should be this well versed in most things.” Seonghwa questioned carefully, unsure if Wooyoung was comfortable with answering these questions, or even understanding them as he was not sure how far Wooyoung’s knowledge comes from.

“It’s almost as if I had always known this information, I don’t remember a lot from my childhood, but I definitely remember things here and there. It’s strange though, since leaving that place and getting the chains removed, it’s almost as if I have suddenly started knowing things. Though there are clearly things that I don’t know.” Wooyoung answered, not sure of what exactly was happening to him anymore. It was almost as if finally getting that fresh air of freedom, he was suddenly able to learn about the entire world in such a short span of time. Like something was feeding this information to him, Wooyoung had slowly been adapting to everything.

Raising his brow with a questioning look, Seonghwa had known that this was clearly something they would have to figure out later as he believed nobody could provide him the correct answer at this current time.

\---

“So I suppose we should explain everything to you.” Hongjoong said, looking at Wooyoung as he was seated in front of him. After getting out of the bath, Seonghwa helped dress Wooyoung in the clothing San had left, showing a much more youthful and cleaner appearance than before. Seonghwa had also thankfully been able to smooth out his hair, only cutting small parts off as the matted pieces were not saveable. His appearance had made him not only look younger as his smooth skin was like a blessing, but he seemed much more attractive and everyone had definitely taken notice of that. Almost wanting to protect him with how innocent he looked, almost everyone had complimented him as soon as he entered the room with Seonghwa. Shyly nodding as he wasn’t used to the amount of praise he had received, Wooyoung gestured for Hongjoong to explain everything to him.

“For starters, let’s try and keep this as simple as possible. Let’s begin with magic, as Seonghwa had hinted at earlier it seems you do not understand what exactly it is. For us, we have special authority to possess magical artifacts that allow for us to each control a certain element. This can only be done at a place called ‘Aurora,’ which we will be taking you to here soon.” Hongjoong paused and pulled out a dagger from his belt as he carefully placed it down onto the table. The dagger was almost nothing out of the ordinary when comparing the size, but the curved end to it and bright blue gem had adorned the handle. Dragging his finger across the dagger and lifting it into the air, a water droplet had formed and seemingly stayed floating above his finger.

“Each person who has one of these artifacts holds different elements, but it doesn’t necessarily mean that the power is entirely the same. Magic is not something that can be held in the body, as it is still very unstable when left on its own, but that’s where these artifacts come in and help, toning down the power to a controlled state. Each person with each element will always have a different grasp on the magic itself, as it is not only rare to be able to possess it, but there is always a condition for said magic. Magic cannot be born into a person alone, but it has been proven that strong emotions are able to trigger it, especially ones involving trauma.” Hongjoong had quietly trailed off as everyone in the room had grown tense. Sighing to himself, he urged himself to continue.

“I will not explain our stories, but what I will tell you next is about this place we are heading to. Aurora is a special island that only authorized people are allowed to enter, but can only be accessed with the help of magic ships. You see, our ship was handcrafted on the island of Aurora, allowing for the outside appearance to be one of a normal ship, but the inside to be whatever the crew desires. There are certain limits to it, as there is only so much magic that can fuel it at times, but for the most part we have set it up to be much closer to a house layout. The reason why we need to enter Aurora as soon as I can is because of you Wooyoung. You seem to possess natural magic deep inside of you, especially a type of magic we have never seen before, which is related to plants and maybe nature itself.” Hongjoong had finished, tired from the long explanation, but glad that it was finally over.

Taking in all of the information slowly, Wooyoung had processed everything for a few minutes till it had made some sense. Thinking that once they reach this Aurora place, he would understand better, Wooyoung had nodded towards Hongjoong. As everybody in the room slowly lost all of their tension, everyone had begun to relax once again.

“We can set you up with your own room once we get to Aurora, but for now I think it would be best if you stay with San.” Yunho had grinned, pushing San forward a bit as he stumbled. Whipping his head around and glaring at the taller man, San had grown more and more irritated.

“Why should I have to stay with him! I don’t want to take care of a useless child!” San gritted through his teeth, hoping his hostility would be able to allow for him to escape from this situation. As everyone had ignored San, Wooyoung had explained quickly over how he seems to be gaining knowledge on things he had never known before rapidly.

“You seem to be remembering things that don’t correlate with your memory correctly it seems, maybe we can take a look into it at the lab facility once we arrive in Aurora.” Jongho had suggested, seemingly thinking over the information that had just been provided. As everyone had seemed to be in agreement, Yeosang and Mingi had quickly escorted Wooyoung to San’s room as fast as they could, wanting to allow the boy to rest.

\---

“Wooyoung I’m sorry that we have to force you into a room with San, but it’s the only one available right now.” Yeosang apologized as Wooyoung had sat down on the bed below him. 

“Yeah every other room is currently shared by the coup-” Mingi was cut off as Yeosang had elbowed him, face turning pinker by the second.

“Let’s not give him any ideas, okay?” Yeosang had almost growled, seemingly embarrassed by what Mingi had said. Looking up at the two, Wooyoung had giggled softly as he stared up towards them.

“It’s okay, I don’t mind sharing the room with him as I have never been treated this nice before. I didn’t even know what a bed had felt like before this, nor the warmth of sleeping under the blanket, or the softness of the pillows. I am forever grateful for all that you are doing for me.” Wooyoung trailed off, hiccuping afterwards as he couldn’t stop the stream of tears from leaving his eyes. As both males had panicked, Mingi and Yeosang immediately went to hug Wooyoung, whispering nothing but calming sentences to let him know everything was fine. That he would never have to experience anything like that again.

As the three of them had continued to stay on the bed together, San, who had previously been eavesdropping the entire conversation, had quickly moved away from the room. Uncomfortable with how all of the emotions in his room had clearly put his mood down, he clutched the dagger on his side and stared at the window, whispering to himself.

“Mom...was this what it was like for you…”


	5. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Aurora. We have a request to make.”

After a somewhat long, emotional talk, Wooyoung had eventually fallen asleep in Mingi and Yeosang’s hold as the three could not seem to separate themselves. The three of them were peacefully resting as San had eventually moved from his position, glancing at the three with a confused, fond look, but eventually stalked away to find another place to enjoy the peace. 

\---

Eventually, Mingi and Yeosang had thought it was best to wake Wooyoung up from his nap, deciding it was better for them to show him around the ship, as he still was never given the chance. As Mingi had still held onto Wooyoung, who seemed to be very cuddly in his drowsy state of waking up, they had all moved out of the room to show him around.

“As it was explained before, this ship is not one of normal ‘ship’ standards, mainly due to the fact that it’s pretty much a large house that is custom designed by the crew. We have the living room, dining room, bathrooms in almost every section of the place, and of course all of our rooms as well. We do store a lot of our food in one of the backrooms of the dining area, in which it is constantly being maintained by the magic that fuels this ship. If anything, you could just treat this like a normal house more than anything, as the outside of it doesn’t really have anything to show.” Yeosang explained, pausing as they had reached the staircase that would take them up to the deck of the ship.

“As you can see, it is similar to a regular ship up here, but that’s mostly for appearance only. You see, people who aren’t granted special permissions to use these types of ships can only view them from the outside view, only able to think that there is nothing super special about it. Although, nobody dares talk about it as our crew has our own branding, more specifically the clothing we had appeared in.” Yeosang smirked, looking proud as he had looked back at Wooyoung who was silently nodding at all of the information being fed to him. 

“We can go into the details once we hit Aurora, but I don’t want to scare you with any information we give out.” Mingi mysteriously said, seemingly worried as he tried to reassure Wooyoung who stared up at him confused, once again. 

\---

Bringing Wooyoung down to once again eat at the dining area, the three of them had sat down together as they had been chatting slightly about whatever came to mind. Sitting up and getting out of Mingi’s hold, Wooyoung stumbled a little bit, but was able to sit right next to them as the other two slightly laughed at him. Joining the joyous atmosphere surrounding them, Wooyoung had grinned back at them as Seonghwa joined them, bringing over Wooyoung’s food.

“Hey, how come you never bring our food?” Mingi gasped, staring wide eyed at Seonghwa in mock disbelief.

“Wow, some friend you are.” Yeosang joked as he rolled his eyes, the two of them getting up to go grab their food as Seonghwa had shown a fake smile in their directions. Taking the seat right next to Wooyoung, they had begun to eat their food together.

“Did they get to show you around the ship? I hope they explained everything, but I don’t think it was much considering we don’t really have to manage this ship at all.” Seonghwa said, meeting with Wooyoung’s eyes as he beamed up at him. Nodding towards him, Wooyoung then began to wolf down his bowl of food, eventually finishing as leaning against Seonghwa as he was happy with being well fed.

Resting his head on his shoulder, Wooyoung had begun resting his eyes as everyone else had joined them at the table. As everyone talked with one another about what their next course of action was, they eventually died down as everyone became focused on eating.

“We should be arriving at Aurora in the next few minutes so everyone should finish eating and prepare for docking. We must go in immediately to address the situation at hand.” Hongjoong had said, done with his food as he stood up and left the room, allowing for everyone to do the same. As Seonghwa had gotten up to put the dishes away, he had also led Wooyoung to his room as he allowed for him to get dressed to go outside, but also handed him a black cloak to cover him as they all exited the ship.

After everyone had gotten dressed, they all immediately went to exit the ship and met up on the ground that was presented in front of them. Squinting through the bright light that the sun had provided, Wooyoung had studied the surroundings in front of him that were unlike anything he had ever seen before. 

A forest-like area was right in front of them, with only one path that seemed almost endless, but what had caught Wooyoung’s eyes was all the wisps of light that had seemed to naturally flow out of the ground. There were multiple colors that came from different areas, but it seemed as if the flow was disrupted as soon as his foot had touched the ground. Taking almost everyone by surprise, all of the colors surrounded Wooyoung and started flowing into him.

Staring shocked towards the young boy, the entire crew threw confused looks towards each other as this was something they had never seen before. Normally, people would be unable to see these wisps of light unless they had used a special vision that allowed them too, but seeing it out in the open was something that seemed way too abnormal to ignore. It seemed as if nothing was actually happening to Wooyoung as he stared off into the distance, seemingly taking everything in.

Shrugging it off for something that would be answered soon, everyone decided to move forward with Seonghwa and Jongho making sure that Wooyoung would be okay.

\--- 

After travelling down the path, Wooyoung was speechless as it seemed to be not only a few minutes, but the entire structure had changed as they walked. Wooyoung stared at the new area around them, as the entire forest structure from before seemed to disappear into a small village that had much more advanced technology surrounding them. There was a giant tree up in the middle of the village that had also adorned many colors around it, similar to the wisps of light that had gone into Wooyoung prior to making it to this place.

Wooyoung was overwhelmingly curious as he wanted to go and see everything, jumping at every new thing he had seen, but Seonghwa had merely laughed at the boy and held him firmly as they walked down the path.

There was nobody around in the village, but from the plain eye it was clear as day that this was no ordinary place. Almost everything seemed to be fueled by magic as Wooyoung had looked around, noticing how the lights in the lampposts reacted to them walking by them, to how the houses themselves seemed to glow with circuit-like lines on the sides of them. There were too many things to look at to try and understand, but that was not necessary as they had eventually made it to the tree in the middle.

“Aurora. We have a request to make.” Hongjoong stated out of the blue, pulling out his dagger adorned with a blue stone in the middle and held it up, almost in an offering to the tree. The tree that was previously full of different colors started to glow blue, as the light seemed to travel towards the dagger itself. As soon as the light had touched the stone, it had gone away as soon as it appeared, instead being replaced by a bright golden light in front of Hongjoong that was too blinding to look at. After a few seconds had passed, the golden light had slowly shaped into one of a young woman, seemingly almost completely made up of light.

As Wooyoung had looked at the woman figure of light, it could only be described as ethereal. It was almost like it was so out of the world that you could not tell what you were looking at. As soon as he had made eye contact with her, everything went dark. 

The only thing existing in Wooyoung’s vision was just himself and this strange woman of light, with nothing else surrounding him. Feeling his mind blank out, he was unable to move his own body on his own as, almost robotically, his legs moved him forward. As he continued forward, everyone else was confused as to what was happening, but made no moves to stop him.

Hongjoong turned around, almost nervous as he stepped out of the way for Wooyoung to move forward. As soon as Wooyoung had reached where the woman was, his body had collapsed. Tears flowing out of Wooyoung’s closed eyes, he was unconscious as the crew could only watch. A deep scarlet pool had begun flowing out from underneath Wooyoung’s body, spreading out at an alarming rate.

Shocked at what was happening, everyone had begun to panic at the current situation. Staring almost horrified and fearful for what was happening, everyone moved forward towards Wooyoung to see what had happened. To anyone’s point of view, it was clear as day that Wooyoung had begun bleeding out on the ground, but nobody could tell what the cause of it was.

“Wooyoung?!” 


	6. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Only being able to cry, San had accepted death.

“Wooyoung ?!” 

“Oh my god! What happened to him?!”

“Someone cover the wound! Oh my god , there’s so much blood!!”

Panic overwhelmed the entire crew as they had frantically moved towards Wooyoung to not only help him, but to assess the unusual situation that they were faced with. As Hongjoong was the closest, he lifted Woyoung’s body carefully as he turned him over in his arms to see what was happening. Gasping horrified, there was a gaping hole in Wooyoung’s chest as he had unconsciously groaned in pain, more tears coming out of his closed eyes on instinct.

As everyone had kneeled, or stood by the two, the anxiety levels continued to rise as everyone slowly feared for the worst.

“Hold on, there is much to be explained. He will be fine, take him with us.” The woman had stated, breaking the silence as everyone stared up at her confused.

Not wanting to be a complete asshole, especially with the serious situation, San stepped forward to take Wooyoung into his arms carefully.

“San...are you sure..?” Hongjoong slowly questioned, wary of how San may react in this situation towards it.

Staring back into Hongjoong’s eyes with tears brimming at the corners of his eyes, San seemed to be the calmest in the situation as he had only said one thing carefully.

“I don’t need a repeat of last time if I have the chance to help.”

\---

As everyone had followed the woman in silence, San was carefully holding Wooyoung bridal style in his arms as he was left to dwell in his own thoughts alone.

_ Staring at the flames as it suffocates everything around him, San was left alone to stare his mother straight in the eyes. A hole gaping out of her chest, blood gushing out and getting everywhere, there was a flaming flower that had seemed to have bloomed from her chest and fallen onto the floor. Grasping the flower in his hands as San was on his knees trying to reach his mother, his arms were burned almost immediately as he had been left alone in the burning place that was once his home. _

_ Only being able to cry, San had accepted death. _

_ “This is it...this is the end...I hope you’re happy with your choice…” He sadly stated, curling up on himself as he cried hysterically. _

“San! Put him down over here please!” Seonghwa had frantically ripped San out of his thoughts as he was met with a very different place than before.

Looking around as he had originally entered the place blankly, everyone had walked past the tree towards the lake behind the village. Even though the place is normally run with magic, this is the one spot that is known for not having any magic to fuel it. The lake water is translucent, seemingly nonexistent as the only thing that seemed to be special was a dead flower bed in the middle of it. The lake itself was large in size as they had travelled through a path that led to the middle with the flower bed, seemingly looking as if it would take hours to travel around the place. 

  
Slowly starting to put Wooyoung down, San had flinched and almost dropped him as he stared horrified at the wound he had currently had. There were dead flowers almost blooming from his chest, but mostly falling out as his body seemed to be losing color and turning pale. Everyone stared horrified as most of them covered their mouths, wide eyes in fear at the current boy who was very obviously close to death.

“How could this happen, he was perfectly fine before this...how could he be dying so quick?!” Hongjoong exclaimed, staring towards to woman who was floating behind the dead flower bed. 

Raising her hand to silence him, Hongjoong flinched as he took a step back and allowed for her to do whatever she needed to do. As soon as Wooyoung was laid down on and everyone took a step back, she plunged her hand into the gaping hole, ignoring every gasp around them and creating a barrier of some sort that prevented everyone from rushing towards the boy. 

Above the two currently in the barrier, a light shone bright as it seemed to reveal a projection of some sort.

\---

_ Lost in the forest, a young boy had been out for far too long as he had been separated from his family. Running around as much as his small body could handle, the boy searched endlessly for a path that seemed recognizable to him. As the time slowly passed, his memories as well had seemed to go as eventually he was standing alone in a patch of flowers, unaware of who he was.  _

_ Curiosity surrounded the boy’s head as he started to walk forward in the patch of flowers, not knowing where to go or what to do anymore. _

_ ‘The flowers look really pretty today.’ Was the only thought in his head as he trailed on forwards. _

_ Eventually the boy had reached the end of the patch of flowers, met with one giant flower that seemed to be larger than the boy himself. There was a green gem in the middle of the flower, shining brightly as it caught the boy’s attention. Walking forward to touch said gem, the boy was pushed back by a figure of light that had tackled him out of nowhere. _

_ A bright white tiger made of light seemed to pounce on top of him, seemingly hostile at first glance as it had growled above him.  _

_ With almost no fear, the young boy had reached a hand out towards the tiger’s face, slowly stroking it’s face as it had growled even louder. _

_ ‘Hello there tiger...do you know where I am? I won’t hurt you’ The boy had said, smiling brightly as he continued to pet the tiger. Almost calming down at his words, the tiger had soundlessly gotten off of the boy, not able to answer his questions. Helping the boy stand up, the tiger had urged the boy to go forward once again as he stared back confused. _

_ ‘Do you want me to touch this?’ He questioned.  _

_ The tiger nodded. _

_ The boy reached for the stone and was enveloped with a bright green light as everything seemed to produce wisps of light in all colors that had flowed into him. _

_ \---  _

_ Years had passed, the boy and tiger had begun to live together with nothing else to do in life. On a seemingly peaceful afternoon, the boy had come back to the flower, only to find it slowly dying. The tiger had curled up around the base of the flower as it stared sadly at the boy. Reaching his hand out, the boy wanted to touch the flower as it had suddenly begun moving. _

_ The flower had immediately twisted itself, turning into a sharp point as it had stabbed through the young boy’s chest as it seemed to defend itself from his touch. The tiger had disappeared as the young boy was suspended into the air, held up by the flower pierced in his chest as he had stroked it softly. _

_ ‘It’s okay...nothing will hurt you now…’ The boy weakly said, blood gushing out of his mouth as he coughed one final time, choking as he slowly became unmoving. The blood had rushed out of the wound and bleed across the patch of flowers as everything was stained red. _

\---

“This...doesn’t make sense...what did you make us watch..?” Hongjoong slowly questioned, swallowing deeply as he stared in horror at the projections that were above him. Almost everyone around him had broken out into tears of some sort, clearly terrified of what the meaning was behind the projection itself.

“Please tell me...that wasn’t him...that wasn’t Wooyoung right?” Yunho questioned, almost sounding hysterical at the end as he had not been willing to accept the truth. Silence drowned the air around them as the woman had retracted her hand, covered in blood and dead petals.

“Well not exactly. If one were to explain it, it seems to be a past life of his that is related to the magic that flows within him. I am unsure exactly what this boy is, but it seems like it isn’t dangerous at all so I will not require to keep him here, as Hongjoong may have thought previously.” The woman calmly explained, taking a step back as she lowered the barrier, but nobody dared to walk forward as the overwhelming sense of dread filled their veins, almost paralyzing them in fear.

Smiling towards all of them, the woman had merely waved as she disappeared almost immediately into thin air as everyone was left with the seemingly dead boy in front of them.

“Thank you...Aurora…” Hongjoong sadly said, staring down at the ground as tears started leaking from his eyes. As soon as the tears had shown, Wooyoung’s body began glowing as the gaping hole in his chest was covered with something new.

Flowers of all colors bloomed through his chest, covering his arms as the once dead flowers below him had begun to rise once again. Everything seemed to be flowing with magic as Wooyoung slowly started waking up. Sitting up frantically, Wooyoung gasped as he clutched his chest in pain, sobbing from how the wound had clearly affected him.

Everyone was startled as the boy they had believed to be dying had been sitting up in front of them, clearly full of life as the color began to fill his skin once again. Flowers of all sorts had begun sprouting around them as the lake began glowing a very bright blue, surrounded with magic as it had been flowing from Wooyoung’s body.

Coughing out some blood, Wooyoung had looked up at everyone staring down at him as he had crawled onto his knees, sobbing hysterically in fear as he had reached for the closest person near him. Immediately, San had moved forward and caught him in between his arms, stroking his hair as everyone joined them for a group hug full of emotions. 

\---

After calming down, Wooyoung had eventually stood up on his shaky legs with the help of Yeosang, as San had let go of him almost immediately after he started calming down, Wooyoung had moved the top part of his shirt to see what had happened to him, but was only met with dried blood and dead petals on his chest.

Confused, Wooyoung looked to Yeosang to see if he could get any answers, but was not able to receive an answer. Everyone had gathered around him as the magic stopped flowing from his body into the lake as Wooyoung had begun to speak up in the overwhelming pressure of silence.

“What...happened to me..?”


	7. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "So...will you join us?"

“He will be going in and out of different memories that either belong to him, or past lives of his. He doesn’t seem like he was ever able to think or act for himself while growing up so he is not able to filter all of the information properly. As you have described, it seemed to him that he was suddenly flowing with information, but not able to actually understand how or where all of it came from so I reset the flow of information to help grow exponentially over time. There is no saying how long it will take for his body to adapt to all of the information, but I can tell you for sure that he will more than likely act as a small child from here on out.” The woman’s voice had trailed out into the open air as Hongjoong and the others had been staring at the tree in front of them, sitting around the trunk as all of their questions were slowly being answered.

Hesitating at first, Hongjoong had grimaced at all the new information before speaking out towards the tree. “You had said that you had reset the flow of information, but where is this information coming from? And why did we see that past vision of his?”

“That I cannot fully answer, as I do need time to analyze the young boy before we can receive those answers. The only thing I can tell you is that I had to reset the information flowing into his mind because it seems as if there is a portion of his memory that had been blocked out, serving to disrupt the flow of magic in him. Had you not taken him to me sooner, there is a chance that the information could have consumed his mind and forced his body to shut down and experience the past memories once again.” Pausing before speaking again, the voice had continued softly.

“You are free to take him, but please do take care of him. You may treat him as an outsider, but you should never once forget that you are dealing with basically a child now.” Aurora had spoken one final time as everyone was left to stare at the tree for a couple more minutes.

As soon as that line was said, a majority of the crew had flinched, knowing that they still couldn’t trust the young boy as this was almost like an invasion of their family. No matter how much sympathy they held for Wooyoung, he was still an anomaly that had to be dealt with.

Dropping his field of vision towards the young boy who had been sitting in front of him, Hongjoong made eye contact with Wooyoung as he slowly spoke. “I do not wish to burden you with this information, but I do believe you have the right to know. I’m not saying that you are, in any way, a malicious person, but I cannot help but be wary with keeping you on our ship with us. You have a choice, whether you want to stay with us, or maybe stay here on Aurora, but you need to understand the severity of the situation.” He paused, looking down at the ground as Seonghwa had spoken up for him.

“If you were to stay with us, then your life will constantly be in danger. If you can prove your loyalty, until then will we trust you with our lives, as we do with each other, and would be more than glad to take care of you. We are not opposed to taking care of you, but as harsh as it sounds, we had been hoping that you would stay here under constant supervision, for your sake, but to also help us feel better about leaving you.” Seonghwa grimaced at Wooyoung as he studied the young boy’s face.

Wooyoung was unsure of how to feel about the situation, he no longer was overwhelmed with the information flowing into his head constantly, but he could definitely understand the situation.

They didn’t  _ want _ him. They had no reason to keep him, to take care of him, but there was still hope present.

“S-so...if I c-can prove...m-myself...I can s-stay with you..?” He slowly questioned, tears leaking out of his eyes as the hiccups took over his ability to speak as he stared sadly, but determined towards them. 

Yunho reached forward and laid his hand on his shoulder, nodding in agreement with him and giving him a sense of hope.

“Don’t worry, I’m sure we can warm up to you soon!” Yunho assured the rest of the crew nodding towards the young boy with warm smiles as they were all sure that they could trust him, but one was still left with a grimace on his face. 

\---

“Since we are leaving Aurora with you, it wouldn’t hurt to finally explain everything to you.” Hongjoong had said, leading everyone to his room on the ship as they had all gone to decide their next destination.

Wooyoung sat down in the chair in front of his desk as everyone stood proudly on the other side of the room, staring intently into Hongjoong’s eyes as he pulled up a map from the desk drawer in front of him. Laying the map out in front of him, he had reached out for his dagger and carefully removed the sea blue stone from it and laid it out.

“First things first, you must never leak this information out or we will personally have to get rid of you and anyone involved.” Hongjoong glared down at the boy as Wooyoung had flinched at the harshness present in his tone.

Moving his stone on the map towards a spot marked on it, seemingly showing a temple surrounded by mountains and warnings written into the map.

“This is what we call the map of Eden. This map is one that can only be accessed by the top of Aurora’s ranking system, in which our entire crew bears ranks based upon that. You are looking at an entire crew of S-class people who have been granted the highest level of authority one could reach. You’ll soon find out how each one of us reached our ranks, but think of Aurora like a guild. A guild is where we, the members, will be able to go to and accept these quests. Normally the quests could range from anywhere between finding a lost item, to using magic to help out certain situations, but there are those quests that are banned from the public eye. These quests are extremely dangerous and only allowed to be accessed from A-class and S-class. We have been a part of this guild for quite a few years, and have been able to gain a notorious standing for ourselves. Details aside, this quest is the biggest quest possible at the guild, as well as the most dangerous in which people would be stupid to take it upon themselves.” Hongjoong paused and smirked, pointing towards himself and everyone in the room.

“We all have our own reasons and stories, but we are united under a family bond that allows for us to go beyond the normal standard. This quest involves using this map, that was long forgotten by society, in which people wouldn’t dare to use it with how dangerous each place is that got marked, but it allows for us to go to several temples to help find the last hidden treasure. Eden’s hope.” 

Hongjoong’s voice echoed in Wooyoung’s head as the only thing that he could keep thinking about was what he had last said.

_ Eden’s hope...you must find it… _

Wooyoung snapped out of his thoughts as Hongjoong proceeded with talking.

“Each temple marked matches each of the elements in the stones. There is a specific order we must follow through to get to the end goal, but there is no way for a single person to do this feat alone. This crew is full of people with different elemental stones that allow us to access a majority of the temples, hence why we have all decided to work together. However, there is one major roadblock that prevented us from going on this journey together, and that would be the key to the first temple.” Hongjoong pointed towards the map as there was a section marked with a green temple on it, surrounded by trees and flowers. It was depicted to be in a forest that was so grandiose, it seemed impossible to navigate it if you had ever tried.

“I came to the realization that there must be some sort of key to get to there mainly due to the fact that a nature type was nearly impossible, but that’s where you come into the picture. If you truly want to prove your loyalty to us, then this is the best method to do so. I have told you as much information as I can without disclosing the actual mission, in which we can brief you along the way as we also do not know what to expect. If you cannot prove yourself to us, then we may simply get rid of you and find another way.” Hongjoong stared blankly into Wooyoung’s eyes as all the fear seemed to gather up and overwhelm him.

“So...will you join us?”

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first time writing something that I will be publishing, let alone something that is completely fictional. I have gained inspiration from other Fanfictions and wanted to write one of my own, knowing how many ideas that have come to my mind while reading all the other ones. This is purely for my own enjoyment so I do not think I will be super strict on absolutely everything, nor do I think it will be perfect. I will keep it as original as I can, but if there are great similarities you are free to let me know as I will most likely not realize it myself, but for the most part I am writing this completely from my own mind.
> 
> I do enjoy everyone's works, as well as hope that you will enjoy this one as well. I am unsure of how long this will be, but I will hopefully be able to get it up to a decent length as well as make it enjoyable.


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